Science, kids, and other random stuff.

vaccines

My least favorite question right now: if your kid is vaccinated why do you care if mine isn’t?

First this question is asked constantly, as if it hasn’t been answered 1000 times already.

Second, my response:
Because my 6 month old can’t be vaccinated against every communicable disease. She is still vulnerable to chicken pox and measles and I’m sure there’s a few other vaccines she hasn’t gotten yet. Vaccines are not 100%, they are dependant upon each individual’s immune response, some people never seroconvert. Some people have immune disorders where they can’t be vaccinated, some people have had an organ transplant and are on immune suppressive drugs to prevent rejection, some people have cancer and treatment destroys their immune system. And lastly, I do care about your child, even if you don’t care about mine. Your children are no less vulnerable than my own and I would hate to see them fight these diseases. I would hate for you to feel guilty, sitting in the hospital watching your babies struggling to breathe and live, your soapbox isn’t worth that.

This is the reason I am worried, because all these people that have no choice and are already vulnerable could be killed because of the spread of these diseases.

But finally if we want to play the self centered, screw society, my child is the only one that matters game, then really I give a shit because I am afraid for my daughter’s life, she is just a baby, she is beautiful and sweet and happy and chubby and I would lose my mind if I had to watch her try and survive one of these diseases and if she died because of it I would die too. With every single person who chooses not to vaccinate these diseases get one step closer to my family. They are already in my state, how long before my city, my daughter’s preschool? At what point am I allowed to worry about my children, and yours, rather than your ethical concerns and moral outrage?

Because I know people who have literally “done the research”. Not Google, not reading scientific literature even, but actually in the lab, with the diseases, with the vaccines, with the “toxins”, and they are parents like you and me, they have families and loved ones that they urge to get vaccinated. They strive to do their jobs to the best of their ability just like you and I do. They are not monsters, raking in the dough, experimenting with our lives, unaware that there are going to be babies at the end of that needle. They do their best to make us all safe and they are aware of the stakes better than most.